Smart Objects in the Context of Avant-garde and Neo-avant-garde Artifacts

Abstract

The article traces the evolution of the status of objects, understood as a carrier of creative expression, from the avant-garde concepts of Duchamp readymades or surrealistic “disturbed objects” to neo-avant-garde installations (Spoerri, Anselmo, Černý, Jasielski, Schneider, Bałka, Hasior). The most important point of
reference for the considerations is the belief in the specific autonomy that the object acquires in avant-garde and neo-avant-garde theories. Moving constantly from a usable to artistic context - or at least participating in negotiations between these spheres - an object must also be seen in terms of everyday cultural practices. The author uses the theory of “smart object” developed by artists and art theoreticians (Agata Pankiewicz, Marcin Przybyłka, Roch Sulima) to show relationships between useable objects, which are intentionally non-artistic, but which are in the field of artistic activities (smart objects), with strictly aesthetic artifacts. Considering several selected properties (the degree of interference of the subject and the recipient in the structure of the object, its collagelike and temporary nature, external appearance, the way of functioning in space, the location on the axis of utilitarian / aesthetic), the author tries to extract those aspects of materiality that determine the status object. As it turns out in the case of some conceptual works, it is difficult to distinguish clearly between their artistic and “smart” dimensions. It leads to the elimination of the boundaries between art and non-art, but it also contributes to the conviction that the material nature of the object itself is in a way a guarantee of the “conceptual” character of the work, especially in the era of the dominance of the digital circulation.